Handy Kitchen Reference: Candy Temperature Chart (2024)

FAQs

How to tell if candy is 300 degrees? ›

300° F–310° F

The hard-crack stage is the highest temperature you are likely to see specified in a candy recipe. At these temperatures, there is almost no water left in the syrup. Drop a little of the molten syrup in cold water and it will form hard, brittle threads that break when bent.

Candy Thermometers

A candy thermometer is used to measure temperatures up to 400 degrees F.

A very firm ball will register between 250 to 256F degrees but can easily be pierced with a fingernail. Taffy recipes and divinity recipes should register a hard ball from 260 to 270F degrees on a candy thermometer. By a cold water test the mass forms into a definite hard ball and cannot be pierced with the fingernail.

Candy thermometers have a longer design, allowing them to safely soak in hot and boiling oil or sugar solutions. Candy thermometers have a higher heat and temperature range. They can read up to 400 F (204 C), while most digital meat thermometers can only read up to 200 F (93 C).

On the day you're going to do your candy making put a couple inches of water in a pan and bring it to boiling. Put your thermometer into the boiling water and note what temperature water boils at (today it's 208 at my house in Utah, on a foggy day). Now, subtract that number from 212. (Again in my example: 212-208=4).

Scales: Candy thermometers often include labels like “soft ball” or “hard crack” to indicate sugar syrup stages, while meat thermometers might label “poultry” or “pork” for meat doneness. Design: Candy thermometers are often longer to submerge in deep pots of boiling sugar without touching the bottom.

To make candy or jelly at home, it's essential to have a thermometer that can process particularly high temperatures. Though a meat thermometer might seem like a convenient substitute, it doesn't have the ability to read and process temperature to the same extent that a candy thermometer does.

Drop a small amount of the candy mixture with a teaspoon into a small bowl of cold water. Each time you test the candy use a fresh bowl of cold water. If the candy forms a thin thread and does not "ball up", it is in the thread stage or 230°—235°F. This stage is similar to sugar syrup rather than candy.

The candy hard crack stage takes shape around 300 degrees Fahrenheit (149 degrees Celcius).

Finally, if the candy forms hard, brittle strands that easily break, the candy is at the hard crack stage, between 300°—310°F. Butter toffee and peanut brittle are examples of candies cooked to this temperature.

How to tell the temperature of sugar without a thermometer? ›

For the Cold Water Test: 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the syrup (candy mixture) is dropped from a clean spoon into a small bowl of very cold water (not ice cold). Quickly examine and/or carefully pick up the sugar from the cold water. The firmness of the sugar indicates the highest temperature the syrup reached.